5. He is the first batsman to score four back-to-back centuries in an ICC cricket World Cup and the first player to score above 150 in four consecutive Test matches.

6. He represented Sri Lankan schools in Tennis before switching to cricket.

7. As a specialist batsman only Don Bradman has a higher average than him.

8. With 501 victims behind the wicket, he surpassed Adam Gilchrist’s 472 ODI dismissals by quite a margin and he also leads the chart with the highest number of ODI stumping – 99.

9. He is the second highest run scorer in ODI matches after Sachin Tendulkar with 14,234 runs in 404 matches.

10. Sangakkara was a key member of the Sri Lanka team that won the 2014 ICC World T20 and was part of the team that made it to the finals of 2007 and 2011 ODI World cups, and the 2009 and 2012 T20 World Cups.

11. He retired from ODIs on 18 March, 2015, after the quarter final game against South Africa in Word Cup 2015.